For Immediate Release

Athabascan Elder Robert Charlie and multimedia artist Lance Twitchell received the awards earlier this month. The 2009 Alaska Native Visionary Awards are the first of their kind. The Alaska Native Heritage Month Committee presents the awards to honor Alaska Natives who perpetuate and preserve culture through artistic and visionary ventures.

The Geophysical Institute nominated Charlie for his work on Uniting Native Indigenous Traditional Education and University Science, or the UNITE-US project.